Mobile Commerce

What is mobile commerce?

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, occurs when financial transactions are done using mobile devices and tablets. It goes beyond traditional e-commerce, as it enables people to purchase and sell goods and services from around the world on mobile platforms.

Modern companies are turning to advanced technology like mobile e-commerce software to improve selling and provide better customer experiences. A key feature of these systems is the ability to create custom mobile applications and target mobile shoppers. Mobile commerce technology is also useful for marketing professionals looking to increase their customer base and extend brand value to mobile devices.

Mobile Commerce Software

Software that mention mobile commerce as a feature or term.

Branding Brand

PredictSpring

BiznessApps

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Commerce)

Shopify

BigCommerce

Types and examples of mobile commerce

Organizations in various industries use mobile commerce for different purposes. Some of the most common types of mobile commerce include:

• Banking and finance: A common use of m-commerce is when mobile apps, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, are used to carry out transactions. Customers prefer this payment method as it allows them to pay without carrying a wallet.
  
  Many financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, have also begun to allow account access, deposits, and mobile transfers. Integrating mobile banking and finance features with e-commerce platforms can provide seamless purchase experiences for customers.
• Marketing: Mobile commerce is widely used as a marketing tool. It uses localized searches and location-based mobile marketing to expand reach to nearby users. Mobile marketing commerce includes SMS notifications, in-store discounts, and coupons.
• Catalogs: Retail and wholesale operations use mobile apps based on augmented reality software (AR) to curate product catalogs. Using AR technology reduces refurbishment and return rates, which improves a company's bottom line.
• Ticketing: A big use case of mobile commerce is in the ticketing industry. Customers can use mobile devices to show boarding passes for airlines and concert tickets using codes built with QR code generators. This benefit can boost brand value by providing added convenience and reducing environmental damage.
• Games and entertainment: In-app notifications and purchases are integral to the gaming and mobile entertainment industry. AR features help gamers participate in virtual landscapes and interact with other players across the globe. Monetization of app purchases and ad spaces helps increase profits for both game and app developers. 
• Healthcare: A recent revolution of m-commerce applications is in the healthcare and wellness industries. Major pharmaceutical companies allow users to fill and pay for prescriptions online with apps. Some businesses offer interfaces to facilitate appointments and consultations on users’ smartphones.

Benefits of mobile commerce

With mobile commerce, companies can bring in technological changes faster and integrate services within existing e-commerce tools. Here are the main benefits of implementing mobile commerce in businesses:

• Better customer experience. M-commerce makes shopping a more straightforward process as it enables customers to shop without leaving their homes. With push notifications and geo-tracking, capabilities such as mobility, reachability, and location services are possible.

• Improved buyer journey. Mobile applications load faster than most websites and can provide faster data and search results. This helps accelerate a customer’s movement down the sales funnel.

• Wider reach. With mobile e-commerce, anyone that owns a smartphone is a potential customer, increasing the chances of generating and nurturing leads. Since mobile devices are handy and travel with the user, there is a substantial increase in accessibility.

• Increased marketing opportunities. With technology like mobile app analytics software, businesses can monitor and analyze traffic and customer interest metrics to optimize existing processes. Insights into marketing campaigns can help companies understand buyer behavior and target consumers accordingly.

• More valuable customer data. Analytics can also track data from the moment the user discovers the product to the point of purchase. Identifying intent signals and gaining knowledge of user preferences helps strengthen buyer personas.

• Streamlined communication. SMS and push notifications are a way of directly communicating with customers. Therefore, there are increased chances of higher open rates and users taking action on the next steps. Integrating this type of communication with emails and newsletters forms an effective omnichannel communication experience.
• Personalized content. Brands that invest in customized content and communication see better conversions and customer loyalty. This content includes special promotions, birthday offers, and social media engagements.

Best practices for mobile commerce

Even if a company has a powerful and responsive website in place, it’s still good to implement mobile optimization. Both websites and e-commerce webpages should be mobile-friendly and have an accessible design model.

• Cater to all audiences. While mobile e-commerce has plenty of interested users, it is essential to remember that certain customer groups prefer the in-store shopping experience. Make it easy for customers to transition from one shopping experience to the other if there are various purchasing options.

• Build product-user relationships. No amount of optimization can help a product that isn’t supported by suitable knowledge materials. Include mobile-friendly product guides, videos, images, and blogs to help customers make the right decisions.
• Refine content. Avoid using heavy content that takes up space and is slow to load. Ensure that there are not many invasive pop-ups and ads that disrupt the user experience.
• Focus on payment processes. Make payment methods and checkouts simple for mobile users by providing options for saving cards and bank information within account credentials. If possible, allow users to add mobile payment choices on their smartphone wallets.
• Invest in social commerce. Social media and smartphones go hand in hand. Customers’ reliance on social platforms has consequently led to increased mobile phone usage. Businesses must ensure that they are dedicating resources to engage users and be active on the same channels as their customers.
• Reduce the number of forms. Entering details on mobile devices can be challenging if there are several forms and categories to fill out. Provide options for autofill whenever feasible.
• Focus on collecting zero-party data. With an increased focus on data privacy and security, mobile app developers have the responsibility to respect growing user concerns. Offering zero-party data (information that is voluntarily shared) options through quizzes, customer profiles, and subscriptions helps companies gather data while also complying with privacy regulations.
• Interact using mobile chatbots. Integrating chatbots with emails, text messages, and social media can drive customer engagement and improve communication practices. This is especially true for customer support chatbot integration with mobile banking and shopping apps.

M-commerce vs. e-commerce

M-commerce facilitates transactions over smartphones, mobiles, and tablets and is a subset of e-commerce. It has wide reachability and location tracking capabilities, allowing for localized searches and purchases. M-commerce devices are very convenient, as they are portable and easy to carry around. Examples of mobile commerce include Instagram Shopping and IKEA in-app furniture shopping.

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, refers to shopping and online payments made on laptops and desktop computers. It has limited location tracking capabilities and is not very portable due to the size of its operating devices. Examples include Amazon.com and Shopify.com.